I got stuck last night.Looked at it again this morning.Decided that talking tennis with fanboys is a complete waste of my time. Boy do I feel stupid.

let me see what theory you put forward for nadal's poor form of late.........of course you are free to ignore even uncle toni's frustrations from the stands about nadal's "uber effective" backhand........

The players giving him problems are those who take time and space from him. Attacking earlier in the points, pushing him back, and playing shots DTL to his backhand. Avoiding the cross-court patterns that are Nadal's bread & butter.

I haven't spoken with Uncle Toni in quite some time, so I've no idea what he's thinking.

does that mean nadal's level has not dropped and all of a sudden after 7 years the tour has now realized how to trouble nadal on clay?

Logged

Marian Vajda to Novak Djokovic, "I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man KEPT COMING AFTER YOU! Now we don't need no man like that in our lives."

I got stuck last night.Looked at it again this morning.Decided that talking tennis with fanboys is a complete waste of my time. Boy do I feel stupid.

let me see what theory you put forward for nadal's poor form of late.........of course you are free to ignore even uncle toni's frustrations from the stands about nadal's "uber effective" backhand........

The players giving him problems are those who take time and space from him. Attacking earlier in the points, pushing him back, and playing shots DTL to his backhand. Avoiding the cross-court patterns that are Nadal's bread & butter.

I haven't spoken with Uncle Toni in quite some time, so I've no idea what he's thinking.

darn, make a bloody phone call and let us know what is going on with Rafa

Last time I checked, he made the finals of the last 2 tourneys and is tearing a new one out of anyone who plays into his cross court patterns.

I think his serve is not as effective.I think he's not happy about losing the 2 finals to Nole. Is that shaking his confidence? I don't know. I fully expect him to make the final at RG and put up a mighty fight for the prize no matter who the opponent is.

You're holding Olderer to the same performance standard as #1 PRIME Nadal?

Not at all. I'll leave these"primes" and "past his primes" to your domain. You seem to jump on any wagon that suits you in a heartbeat.

I just want to enjoy tennis.

For a guy who won Barclays Tour Finals six months ago he's not exactly ancient history yet. You just want to repeat that over and over because you're so needy for inner consolation. That's fine, but leave Nadal out of it. Thank you.

And to please monstertruck. I think Nadal's game plan has been fairly good. His serve isn't good though. The returns from Djoker on Nadal's first serve are so deep, Nadal is imediately on the back foot.

He needs to step it up, take the ball sooner. But it's not his game. He will need to step in, he cannot defeat Nole with endurance that way. And that's simply because Nole dictates most of the points. By standing so far back Nadal is out of breath much sooner.

But that's all a bunch of talking. I know he does on court what he feels best at the moment. His game plan will work if he stays focused and not let these defeats get to him. In all fairness, Nole displayed really amazing performances in these finals. Nadal will win if he gets Nole tired.

You're holding Olderer to the same performance standard as #1 PRIME Nadal?

Not at all. I'll leave these"primes" and "past his primes" to your domain. You seem to jump on any wagon that suits you in a heartbeat.

I just want to enjoy tennis.

For a guy who won Barclays Tour Finals six months ago he's not exactly ancient history yet. You just want to repeat that over and over because you're so needy for inner consolation. That's fine, but leave Nadal out of it. Thank you.

And to please monstertruck. I think Nadal's game plan has been fairly good. His serve isn't good though. The returns from Djoker on Nadal's first serve are so deep, Nadal is imediately on the back foot.

He needs to step it up, take the ball sooner. But it's not his game. He will need to step in, he cannot defeat Nole with endurance that way. And that's simply because Nole dictates most of the points. By standing so far back Nadal is out of breath much sooner.

But that's all a bunch of talking. I know he does on court what he feels best at the moment. His game plan will work if he stays focused and not let these defeats get to him. In all fairness, Nole displayed really amazing performances in these finals. Nadal will win if he gets Nole tired.

Easier said than done.

No need to appease the Fat Man. I just state my opinion and try to validate it with facts.

I'm not a fan of Raf or Nole but can appreciate their abilities and contributions to the game I love.

Your statement that Nadal needs to step up and that's not his game strikes a chord with an idea I was mulling over. Tactically, what adjustments does Rafa make when he transitions from clay to grass? Could some of those concepts help him combact the time shortage he faces against first strike heavy hitters?

As much as I don't care for any of the top 4 players, the tennis we are witnessing is light years ahead (but also quite different) from the game I learned in the 70's.

I am so pissed that Mardy Fish has visited T4U and stolen my analysis of Nadal's game to use as his own.

"Top-ranked American Mardy Fish, who has never beaten Djokovic in six career meetings, was brutally candid when assessing the Serbís game. ďI have played all of the top players but Novak is the toughest match-up for me because he has no weaknesses. With Roger, as amazing as he is, you feel like you have a game plan of trying to get the ball into his backhand. With Rafa you feel like you can try to take his time away and get free points on your serve because he stands deeper in the court.

I am so pissed that Mardy Fish has visited T4U and stolen my analysis of Nadal's game to use as his own.

"Top-ranked American Mardy Fish, who has never beaten Djokovic in six career meetings, was brutally candid when assessing the Serbís game. ďI have played all of the top players but Novak is the toughest match-up for me because he has no weaknesses. With Roger, as amazing as he is, you feel like you have a game plan of trying to get the ball into his backhand. With Rafa you feel like you can try to take his time away and get free points on your serve because he stands deeper in the court.

You're holding Olderer to the same performance standard as #1 PRIME Nadal?

Not at all. I'll leave these"primes" and "past his primes" to your domain. You seem to jump on any wagon that suits you in a heartbeat.

I just want to enjoy tennis.

For a guy who won Barclays Tour Finals six months ago he's not exactly ancient history yet. You just want to repeat that over and over because you're so needy for inner consolation. That's fine, but leave Nadal out of it. Thank you.

And to please monstertruck. I think Nadal's game plan has been fairly good. His serve isn't good though. The returns from Djoker on Nadal's first serve are so deep, Nadal is imediately on the back foot.

He needs to step it up, take the ball sooner. But it's not his game. He will need to step in, he cannot defeat Nole with endurance that way. And that's simply because Nole dictates most of the points. By standing so far back Nadal is out of breath much sooner.

But that's all a bunch of talking. I know he does on court what he feels best at the moment. His game plan will work if he stays focused and not let these defeats get to him. In all fairness, Nole displayed really amazing performances in these finals. Nadal will win if he gets Nole tired.

Easier said than done.

No need to appease the Fat Man. I just state my opinion and try to validate it with facts.

I'm not a fan of Raf or Nole but can appreciate their abilities and contributions to the game I love.

Your statement that Nadal needs to step up and that's not his game strikes a chord with an idea I was mulling over. Tactically, what adjustments does Rafa make when he transitions from clay to grass? Could some of those concepts help him combact the time shortage he faces against first strike heavy hitters?

As much as I don't care for any of the top 4 players, the tennis we are witnessing is light years ahead (but also quite different) from the game I learned in the 70's.

The ones that immediately come to the mind are the vicious serve....both of us have agreed that Rafa needs to beef up his serve MT, but we also know that clay greatly neutralizes any spin on serve....the spin on his serve on grass is far more effective. Second is the sliced backhand; again a spin factor. Apart from this, just as people are taking away Rafa's 'time' on clay, Rafa kind of realises that his forehand has to be flatter on grass. This is one thing I have been harping on for a very long time that his forehand needs to be flatter. We will see it in the grass season. However considering his form on a surface where he has been nearly invincible so far and the fact that the grass season and Wimbledon are not very far away, I am quite skeptical about Rafa making any drastic improvements in a matter of just a couple of weeks. Added to the fact that his confidence is taking a beating right now, we need to give Rafa more than just one month to see him back at his best. Hopefully he should strike his top form for the hard court season. On the other hand, if he does manage a victory at RG, things could be different from what I have stated here. I still wouldn't expect him to show the form on grass that we have seen in '08.

his serve will never be his strength, i said that even during last year's us open at the other forum and only few knew what i was talking.........

i will say it again, his serve and his volley will never be his strengths because that is simply not his thing.........

he absolutely willed his way through to develop a reasonably good volley by 2007 and 2008 and his volley was arguably the second best on the tour back then, but that level of hardwork is tough to keep up year after year........

for the great fighter he is, he will try to make improvements even when he hits 30s, but once he starts losing half a yard in 2 years time, he will primarily have to remodel his game around a safe first serve and his great forehand to take over from there.........

that is how i see him playing once he is 27, he will be a much worse volleyer and the serve will never be his strength.........his backhand will never suck this bad again so that should be of some relief i guess..........

forehand and backhand constitute 90% of his game, you can imagine how much he relies on those two shots.........if both those shots fire, there's no runnign around the backhand, no robbing of time and no breaking of that intolerable defense.........

Logged

Marian Vajda to Novak Djokovic, "I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man KEPT COMING AFTER YOU! Now we don't need no man like that in our lives."

I see a lot of discussion about Nadal's game play against Djokovic or how great Djokovic is. But nobody try to think about the weakness of Djokovic and who will become his nemesis.So simple two questions:Who will become Djokovic's nemesis?or What is his weakness?

I see a lot of discussion about Nadal's game play against Djokovic or how great Djokovic is. But nobody try to think about the weakness of Djokovic and who will become his nemesis.So simple two questions:Who will become Djokovic's nemesis?or What is his weakness?

Maybe in the future we can have this dicussion.

That would make for an interesting topic Mr. Chung!Perhaps for after RG.